2012 Extreme Sailing Series Heads to Qingdao

The opening Act of the 2012 Extreme Sailing Series™ was full of surprises as Oman Air triumphed in their debut in Muscat, Oman. Team Wave, Muscat finished second overall in their home port beating out the all-French team of Groupe Edmond de Rothschild led by Pierre Pennec who took the 3rd place podium spot, followed by team Red Bull.

Act 2 of the 2012 Extreme Sailing Series will bring the teams to Qingdao, China’s Sailing City from April 17th – 20th for a second time. Last year, the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series™ provided spectators with high octane racing in Qingdao’s Fushan Bay with high wind gusts that capsized 4 of the Extreme 40 fleet. Other events scheduled include: Olympic 49er class racing, Moth demo sailing, the NeilPryde Windsurfing Series, as well as youth Optimists racing.

The Qingdao International Marina & Olympic Sailing Center will also have family-orientated entertainment from youth activities, dance, and music, to opportunities for guests to experience sailing on-board the Extreme 40s.

“The origins of the Extreme 40 are the Olympic Class Catamaran, the Tornado. Yves Loday, the designer, is an Olympic Tornado medalist and both I and Mitch Booth, who were involved from the start, have a lot of experience in the Tornado. Basically, the Extreme 40 is a scaled-up version of the Tornado, all of the dimensions are relative to the Tornado, it is just twice as big and incredibly fast.”